Our Father's Covenant at Horeb
Moses repeats the ten words to a new generation and insists the covenant was made with them, not only their parents. The Sabbath here is grounded in slavery remembered. The people, terrified by the fire, ask Moses to listen for them, and our Father wishes their hearts would stay.
5 1Moses called all Israel and said to them: "Listen, Israel, to the statutes and rulings I speak in your hearing today. Learn them and carefully do them." 2Our Father made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3This covenant our Father made not with our ancestors but with us—all of us alive here today. 4Our Father spoke with you face to face at the mountain, from within the fire.
5At that time I stood between our Father and you to tell you our Father's word, because you feared the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said:
6"I am your Father, who brought you out of Egypt, the house of slavery.
7"You must have no other gods before me.
8"Don't make yourself a carved image, any form of what's in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. 9Do not bow to them or serve them, for I, your Father, am a jealous Father, charging the fathers' wrongdoing to the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10but showing covenant love to 1,000 generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
11"Do not misuse your Father's name, for our Father will not leave anyone who misuses his name unpunished.
12"Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as your Father commanded you. 13Six days you are to labor and do all your work, 14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to your Father. Do no work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your ox, donkey, or any livestock, or the foreigner in your towns—so your male and female servants may rest like you. 15Remember you were a slave in Egypt, and your Father brought you out from there with a strong hand and outstretched arm. So your Father commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
16"Honor your father and your mother, as your Father commanded you, so your days are long and it goes well with you in the land your Father is giving you.
17"You must not murder.
18"You must not commit adultery.
19"You must not steal.
20"You must not give false testimony against your neighbor.
21"Don't crave your neighbor's wife. Don't desire your neighbor's house, field, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything your neighbor owns."
22These words our Father spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain, from within the fire, cloud, and deep darkness, in a loud voice; he added nothing more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 23When you heard the voice from the darkness, the mountain blazing with fire, you came to me—all your tribal heads and elders,
24and you said, "Look, our Father showed us his glory and greatness; we heard his voice from the fire. Today we saw our Father speak with a person, and that person still lives. 25Now why should we die? This great fire will consume us. If we keep hearing our Father's voice any longer, we die. 26Who of all humanity has heard the living Father's voice speaking from inside the fire, like us, and lived? 27Go near, hear all our Father says, then tell us all our Father tells you, and we will listen and obey."
28Our Father heard your words to me, and our Father told me: "I heard this people's words to you. All they said is right. 29If only they kept this heart—fearing me and keeping all my commands always—so it goes well with them and their children forever! 30Go and tell them, 'Return to your tents.' 31But you, stand here with me, and I will tell you the whole command—the statutes and judgments—you are to teach them, so they will do them in the land I am giving them to possess."
32So be careful to do as your Father commanded you; do not turn aside right or left. 33Walk the whole way your Father commanded, to live, thrive, and last long in the land you will possess.
